2 College Students Vanish, Car Found Downtown

April 04, 1988|By Jane Tanner.

Two Wheaton College students apparently disappeared in Chicago over the weekend as they were returning from Flint, Mich., police said Sunday.

The two, Carolyn MacLean, 22, of New Jersey, and her boyfriend, Scott Swanson, 23, of Elgin, both seniors at Wheaton, had planned to stop in Chicago on their way back to Elgin after visiting Carolyn`s grandmother in Flint, acording to Swanson`s father, Roger. The students had planned to celebrate Easter with Swanson`s family in Elgin.

``It looked as though the engine may have been running for several hours, but there was no one inside,`` said Chicago police youth officer Stan Salabura.

About 5:30 p.m. Friday, Scott Swanson called home to say that the two would be leaving Flint at about 11 a.m. Saturday. He told his parents that they would stop in Chicago to eat before returning to Elgin, Roger Swanson said.

Scott Swanson`s parents expected him to arrive home about 8 p.m. Saturday, but shortly after 8, his father got a call from the Chicago Police Department informing him that police had found MacLean`s car in the alley behind Orchestra Hall, 220 S. Michigan.

A security guard at Orchestra Hall called police to report that a car had been parked in the alley with the engine running for several hours.

When police arrived shortly after 7:30 p.m., they found that the keys were in the car`s ignition and the doors were unlocked. The car, a 1985 BMW, had a parking ticket on the window which had been issued at 5:30 p.m., said Central District Officer Jack Savage, who was at the scene Saturday.

Savage said that the glove compartment had been ripped open and the students` clothing, books and other belongings were strewn about the car.

``Obviously someone had gone through the car,`` Savage said. He said that it is not uncommon for police to find stolen cars dumped off in the Loop, but Savage said that the car`s expensive radio, which an experienced car thief would have taken, was not touched.